Jennison Associates LLC Acquires 115,336 Shares of Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES)

Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Western Midstream Partners, LP (NYSE:WES) by 13.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 983,685 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 115,336 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC owned 0.26% of Western Midstream Partners worth $28,783,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WES. Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 13.0% during the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 33,519,544 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $912,737,000 after purchasing an additional 3,855,558 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Western Midstream Partners by 13.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 20,746,835 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $564,936,000 after purchasing an additional 2,520,712 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Western Midstream Partners by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 6,280,595 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $183,770,000 after acquiring an additional 802,709 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Western Midstream Partners by 15.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,571,428 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $124,480,000 after acquiring an additional 622,108 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT lifted its position in Western Midstream Partners by 34.4% during the third quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT now owns 1,429,316 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $38,920,000 after acquiring an additional 365,739 shares during the last quarter. 42.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kenneth F. Owen purchased 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were bought at an average price of $33.96 per share, for a total transaction of $237,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 32,730 shares in the company, valued at $1,111,510.80. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Kenneth F. Owen purchased 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were bought at an average price of $33.96 per share, for a total transaction of $237,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 32,730 shares in the company, valued at $1,111,510.80. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Lisa A. Stewart purchased 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $34.87 per share, for a total transaction of $87,175.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 30,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,071,555.10. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on WES shares. Wolfe Research raised shares of Western Midstream Partners from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Citigroup cut shares of Western Midstream Partners from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $30.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Western Midstream Partners from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Western Midstream Partners in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.64.

Western Midstream Partners Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of Western Midstream Partners stock opened at $35.95 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $34.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.27. Western Midstream Partners, LP has a 1 year low of $24.89 and a 1 year high of $36.79. The stock has a market cap of $13.68 billion, a PE ratio of 13.83 and a beta of 2.83.

Western Midstream Partners (NYSE:WES) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The pipeline company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 by ($0.04). Western Midstream Partners had a return on equity of 33.58% and a net margin of 32.72%. The business had revenue of $858.21 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $850.23 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.85 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Western Midstream Partners, LP will post 3.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Western Midstream Partners Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.875 per share. This represents a $3.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. This is a boost from Western Midstream Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. Western Midstream Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 88.46%.

Western Midstream Partners Profile

Western Midstream Partners, LP, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a midstream energy company primarily in the United States. It is involved in gathering, compressing, treating, processing, and transporting natural gas; gathering, stabilizing, and transporting condensate, natural gas liquids (NGLs), and crude oil; and gathering and disposing produced water.